Kiku Japanese Cuisine/Destiny's Bubble Tea

 Sushi, again! Another birthday calls for sushi celebration! My dear friend is celebrating her birthday this month and we had the opportunity to go to Kiku to try out their menu. The interior of the restaurant is quite modern. It allows you to feel as if everything inside is new and fresh. The chairs were slightly awkward to sit on, since as you can see in the photo that the ones in the aisle did not have a back rest. What is cool about this restaurant is that they adopted the idea of using an ipad to place your order, so you don't have to flag someone down. 

We didn't have the all you can eat option, but instead ordered a party set. It was the sushi and maki set. It consisted of squid, shrimp, salmon, octopus, red and white tuna, eel, imitation crab, and some other fish near the tip of the boat. We didn't realize that there would be so many sashimi sushi, but we should've paid more attention when the description said 'assorted sushi'. It was an awesome set because it consisted of green dragon and red dragon! 

Although some of us at the table weren't really a fan of the sashimi sushi (such as myself) it wasn't a horrible experience. The squid was my least favourite though, probably because of the texture and slime that came with it. The salmon was my second least favourite, since it came warm. 

 The rest of the sushi was mediocre, nothing great nothing horrible. It's phenomenal to see restaurants serving a la carte options for those who don't have a big appetite. Unfortunately though, it really causes the quality of the sushi to be less than spectacular. I was a bit shocked that there was no sauce on top of the dragon rolls. Usually, those would be my favourite but I wasn't that big of a fan. 

I took a picture of the place set to feature some of the sushi. The plates at the restaurant were a bit dirty, so I'd advise you wipe it down yourself first before enjoying your meal. It was the standard wooden chopsticks, soy sauce in a bottle kind of restaurant. Not sure if I would suggest coming here again for the food, but if they wanted a modern looking restaurant sushi north of the 404...this would be the place! I'm rating this restaurant a 2/5 stars. The total of the bill was about $80 with tips and tax.  

Destiny's is totally unrelated to the sushi restaurant, but we went to the neighboring plaza to grab some cake and dessert. No birthday is complete without cake! Destiny's is one of the popular bubble tea place north of the 404. They have been challenged by other bubble tea cafes recently though. The atmosphere is bright, which allows you to be awake while you sip through the night with your drink. I would not advise you to order a piece of oreo cake if you already had a very filling meal.

 I enjoyed the strawberry shortcake very much and usually is one of my favourites. We also had drinks as well but perhaps I'll make another blog entry about that. The total for this dessert adventure costed us $40 with tips and tax. 

Sariwon Korean BBQ

Sariwon Korean BBQ is located in Thornhill close to K-Town. We got there around 7:30 pm and left closer to 9 pm, whilst there were still many people enjoying their food there! First look at the menu (which I wish I had taken a picture of) was slightly confusing. For their BBQ option, you have to order a minimum of 2 orders.  

 I'm the type of person that likes variety. But being limited to choosing the same type of meat was slightly frustrating. Also on top of that most of the meat was at least $20 and over. I don't exactly want to pay for the same order twice if I am not getting variety. That slightly (sarcasm) disappointed me. We were seated in a corner in another room so it was hard to flag someone down.

When we finally placed our order of pork belly, the waitress laid down the meat for us. One good thing is that there is a fan beneath the grill that sucked the air so when you leave the restaurant you don't have that BBQ smell. Also the rack allowed the fat to drip down to make it slightly healthier unlike Chako's where it was just drowned in fat. 

 The meat wasn't seasoned so they provided us with some type of sauce to dip it in. Also if you preferred the lettuce option instead of rice it seems to be healthier. I enjoyed the experience a lot and the food can probably be rated 3.6/5 but I would not go back solely for the lack of variety. I felt that we were forced to pick specific meat at a decent price...or else it would have been $30+ for one person!  

SMASH Kitchen and Bar

I have been wanting to try this place for a while since it is so close to home. Located in the GTA (Markham) it has been the new buzz for us locals. It definitely isn't a place where you can spot it easily since it is tucked away in the corner. The first feeling when I got in wasn't like a normal restaurant but rather it was just a place where people go to. Usually when I step into the restaurant I feel comfortable and excited but with SMASH I didn't feel that way.

As you can see from the first few pictures, the decor was quite interesting. The light fixtures did intrigue me so I did feel the need to take a couple of snaps. I enjoyed the view of the restaurant closer to the inside but not where most of the action happened since we sat in a booth. It was difficult to see the rest of the restaurant and these were really the only pictures that I could get a decent view of something rather than nothing.

I ordered an [angry] lobster linguine. Even though I was very excited to see what the restaurant had to offer, I was very disappointed. There was a couple of lobster pieces in the pasta but it was severely torn apart and did not have the chewy texture anymore. Not sure how often people order the seafood there but it tasted like it has been frozen for a while. It tasted very much like they defrosted it from the freezer and plated it. The bread had a very rubber texture so I was not a fan of that either. 

 The only other dish that I really got to try was the risotto. The taste was very flavorful although the texture of the rice was debatable. Instead of a soft texture it was almost under-cooked. The mussels were not all fully cooked either but it was definitely better than my linguine. Perhaps we all ordered very similar menu items but I was not impressed with the plating. For the amount we paid for I at least expected something more on the dish. 

Perhaps if we ordered steak or salmon it would have looked more appealing but the rest of the dishes looked pretty similar. Most of them had some sort of red or orange colour in the dish and topped off with some sort of rectangular object, either being a meat or bread. Not 100% sure if I would recommend this to anyone but it was definitely a place to try. I would rate this restaurant probably a 1.8/5 stars. The waitress we had wasn't exactly friendly with us either. Definitely made this evening "extra" special with removing our plates without even asking if we are done.

Mi Ne Sushi

What's a better way to start off the weekend than with a birthday lunch?! At least it wasn't intentional of us to celebrate a birthday. In a few days will be one of my good friend's birthday and we celebrated by going to sushi! Such a shame I didn't get to snap more pictures of the restaurant but we were one of the only ones there when we arrived so it was a bit awkward. Although of course I had to get a picture of the sushi.

 Don't know if you can tell from the pictures but the pieces were super big. I didn't end up finishing everything off of my plate! This is a Spicy Salmon and California maki set lunch. The total came out to be around $12 with tips and tax which is a little more expensive than what I would normally pay for lunch. 

I wouldn't say the flavour of the sushi was particular good and didn't seem to impress me too much. If there was more rice per roll it would've balanced the fillings a little more. Since there was so much filling, it made it difficult to eat (although like they say, the bigger the better!). Service was mediocre, nothing to really complain about. Probably give this about 2/5 stars, not great but not that I wouldn't come again.